


The Roommate

by ashtraythief



Category: CW Network RPF, Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Mutual Pining, Roommates, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-26
Updated: 2016-06-26
Packaged: 2018-07-18 06:13:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7302811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashtraythief/pseuds/ashtraythief
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Jared moves in with Jensen, Jensen’s life is turned upside down. Jared is a terrible roommate; messy, loud and entirely obnoxious. Unfortunately, he’s also pretty hot and even kinda nice when his socks aren’t clogging up the sink. Not that Jensen would ever do anything about that, because Jared is straight and a giant slob. Or so Jensen thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Roommate

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2016 round of spn_meanttobe, for the prompt The Roommate: _Ever since her former roommates deserted her, Meg has had to share an apartment with a lazy, obnoxious ass. He won’t pick up after himself, and he refuses to get a good job. Plus, he doesn’t always wear enough clothes—which is really a problem, because he’s hot. Maybe he’s occasionally funny. And every now and then he can be sweet. But mostly he’s just annoying. It doesn’t matter how much he’s starting to flirt with her—Meg is going to resist. She’s way too smart to fall for a guy who never takes anything seriously. But then everything changes in only one night…_
> 
> I teamed up again with the wonderful [beelikej](http://beelikej.livejournal.com/) for this story. She did an incredible art set that you can see [here,](http://beelikej.livejournal.com/497496.html) including her ingenious paper cut art (anyone wanna dress up their own Jared? Seriously, go look at it, you can dress up your own Jared doll!). She was also a great cheerleader and incredibly patient with my last minute writing mess. Many thanks for my trusty alpha reader and hand holder alycat and to my thorough and wonderful betas ilikecali and theatregirl7299. All remaining mistakes are clingy bastards Spoilers for Season Three of House of Cards :)

 

 

 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


 

“Jared is a really nice guy, Jensen, I promise.”

 

Jensen fixed Dani with a hard glare. The last time she’d recommended someone as a nice guy he just had to meet, she’d set him up on his most disastrous blind date ever.

 

“That’s what you said about Misha.”

 

Dani made a face. “Yeah, that was unfortunate.”

 

Jensen snorted. “Not the word I’d use.”

 

“Well, how was I supposed to know Misha had gone on a self-discovery trip and decided to live by his horoscope and burn incense all the time?”

 

Dani had a point. Still. “So, how do you know this Jared guy?”

 

“He dated my roommate Sandy in college.” Dani grinned. “Trust me, you’ll love him. He’s totally nice and laid back, exactly what you need. I just had lunch with him last week, so no unpleasant surprises, I promise.”

 

Jensen rubbed a hand across his face. It wasn’t like he had options. His last roommate had left him high and dry to move away with his girlfriend and Jensen needed someone to share his rent. It was during the middle of the semester and Jensen was neck deep in trying to finish his master's theses and juggle a job as a TA, so Jared it was.

 

“Okay, give me his number.”

 

  
  
  
  
  
  


Today was a bad day. Jensen called it the moment he left the coffee shop, bumped into another student and his hot coffee burned his chest through the thin shirt he was wearing.

 

He’d already been late to his first class because Mrs. O’Connell from downstairs had talked him into getting her cat off the fire escape for the third time this year and the damn animal had scratched up his arm.

 

In class, he’d discovered he’d packed the wrong notes, and now the spilled coffee. He’d have to sit through a truly annoying staff meeting later for all the grad students because the university had decided five weeks before the end of the term was an excellent time to start schooling employees on the new computer systems.

 

It was only midday and he wanted nothing more than to go home, curl up on his couch and finish season three of House of Cards before a spoiler inevitably ruined it for him. Was that so much to ask?

 

When he finally left campus, Jensen just felt drained. He headed over to the bus stop because, on top of all this, his car was still sitting in his parking lot at home, unwilling to start.

 

The bus was filled with loud teenagers, and the man next to him was sweating incessantly. Jensen closed his eyes and dreamed of his quiet apartment.

  


In the hallway of his building, Jensen heard music blaring. Sometimes, the couple from upstairs put on Nirvana really loud when they got high and fucked, but this was different. This was… Pearl Jam? And it was coming out of his apartment.

 

Well, it seemed Jared had moved in. They’d texted, and Jensen had left a key under the mat in case Jared arrived before Jensen got home today. Jensen took a deep breath, braced himself and opened the door to his — their — apartment.

 

The livingroom was chaos. Jensen took another deep breath and tried to stay calm; moving in was always chaotic, but the sheer number of boxes and bags was dizzying. There was random stuff littering the couch — a giant stuffed penguin, a bunch of spoons tied together with a hair band, a bath mat and a potted plant — as if someone had just emptied out a box on it. The music was blaring from the back where the bedrooms and the bathroom was. Slowly Jensen navigated the battlefield his apartment had turned into. Just when he passed the kitchen area and entered the hallway, the bathroom door opened, and in a cloud of billowing steam a tall, broad shouldered, muscled, naked guy emerged.

 

Jensen stared. Somewhere in the back of his head his mind amended that the guy, who had to be Jared, wasn’t completely naked, but had a tiny towel wrapped around his waist. Tiny was being generous. He had to hold it at the side because it wouldn’t even wrap all the way around his narrow hips. It was blue with white stripes. Jensen blinked. He recognized it. It was the towel that hung in the bathroom.

 

For hands.

 

Jared had used it on his body. Jensen was turning stupider by the second.

 

After the initial shock, Jared grinned and walked towards him, legs splitting the towel at the side. Jensen could see his hip bones.

 

“Hey man,” Jared said. “You must be Jensen. I’m Jared.” Jared stretched out the hand that wasn’t holding the towel. There were still a few stray drops of water dotting his arms and chest.

 

“Yeah, I figured,” Jensen said and waved at Jared’s naked wet body before shaking his hand. Large hand, firm grip. Jensen refused to acknowledge the weak feeling in his knees. He was going to kill Dani. Murder her slowly and painfully for not telling him that the hottest guy this side of the sun, who ticked every single one of Jensen’s boxes, looks-wise, was moving in with him.

 

He remembered her impish grin when she’d talked about Jared, who’d dated her roommate in college. Of course. Of course Jared was straight. Straight and hot. Hot and naked. Naked and wet. Wet and — Jensen violently shook his head. He needed to get his head straight, because, shit, Jared was talking.

 

“... yeah, sorry about the mess.” Jared rubbed his wet hair, the long strands adorably curling up around his ears. “I just really needed a shower after hauling all the boxes.”

 

Jensen nodded a bit stupidly. “Yeah, no problem.”

 

Jared grinned. There were dimples. “Cool. I don’t have a lot of stuff for the kitchen so I’ll just throw mine in there with yours, yeah?”

 

Usually Jensen was kind of anal about his kitchen system, but in the face of all that naked skin, he was only able to nod.

 

When Jared was still looking expectantly at him, Jensen realized he needed to say something. Unfortunately he had no idea what to say.

 

“Yeah, you get settled. I’m gonna go.” Jensen gestured towards his room. “Gonna watch some House of Cards.”

 

Jared’s eyes lit up. “Oh awesome. I just started the fourth season. Man, I was so freaked when they split up. Though I really don’t blame Claire.”

 

Jensen froze. “They split up?”

 

“Yeah, end of the third season,” Jared said, completely unconcerned. “Have fun.” Then he turned towards his room, presenting Jensen with a muscled backside, droplets of water running down his spine.

 

Jensen could appreciate that — if Jared hadn’t just spoiler’d him.

 

Great. Handsome and obnoxious. This was not what he needed to get through the rest of the semester intact.

 

  
  
  
  
  


Jensen stood in his kitchen, staring blearily into one of the kitchen cabinets. It was the one that usually housed his plates and glasses and — most importantly — his coffee cups. Only right now, he was staring at a wall of cereal boxes. Lucky Charms, Fruit Loops, Trix, and Cocoa Puffs. Jensen was getting a sugar shock just from looking at all of them. It was way too early for this shit.

 

And where were his fucking mugs?

 

Behind him, his sleep addled brain registered footsteps.

 

“Hey man,” Jared said cheerfully and obnoxiously awake at such an ungodly hour and stepped up right behind Jensen, so close Jensen could feel his body heat.

 

One of Jared’s arms reached past Jensen for the Fruit Loops. Jensen got a nose full of Jared’s deodorant. It smelled nice.

 

“If you want any of the cereal, help yourself,” Jared said before he reached into the box and starting eating dry cereal.

 

Jensen stared back into the cabinet. “Cups,” he croaked out, “where are my coffee cups?”

 

“Oh, right behind the cereal.” Jared laughed. “Sorry, I just squeezed my stuff in there.”

 

Again, Jared’s arm appeared over Jensen’s shoulder, pushed the boxes to the side to reveal Jensen’s treasured coffee cup collection.

 

Slowy, Jensen reached for the black one with the white dots. It was the biggest one. Jensen had a feeling he’d need that.

  


He didn’t see Jared much that first week. Apart from that first morning, Jared never got up as early as Jensen did. Considering that Jensen never got up before he absolutely had to and he didn’t have morning classes on Thursdays and Tuesdays, it was quite a feat. When Jensen got home in the afternoon or evening, Jared was either in his room, listening to music or playing video games by the sounds of it, or he was out.

 

Jensen had asked Jared what he did for work, and Jared had blushed and rubbed his neck. “Ah, it’s, erm, I don’t have a regular job, I freelance mostly.” Jared made a throw away motion with his hand. “Computer stuff.”

 

Jensen had nodded and tried to keep his expression neutral. So Jared was between jobs. Well, that happened. And as long as he paid his rent, he had no problem with it.

 

When he found a pair of dirty socks on the couch that evening, he started having his doubts.

  
  
  
  
  


 

The first weekend of living together, Jensen met Chad. Chad was an old high school friend of Jared’s who had just moved into the city. He brought his laptop, a bottle of whiskey, four bags of twizzlers, and had way too much product in his blond hair. He called Jensen “pretty boy” and then disappeared into Jared’s room, starting to tell a story about the hot red-headed girl he’d met last night.

 

“She got a friend, you’re gonna play wingman if we go out tomorrow, right?”

 

Jared laughed. “Sure, man. Doubt that’s gonna help you though.”

 

“Asshole,” Chad muttered before the door to Jared’s room closed.

 

Charming guys.

  
  
  
  
  
  


One evening, Jensen came home to Toto blaring through his apartment and the scent of cheese heavy in the air. Jensen was violently reminded that he’d skipped lunch today.

 

When he walked into the kitchen, he expected Mac and Cheese at the most. Instead, there was a myriad of vegetable bits lying around — he spotted the end piece of an eggplant and a zucchini together with countless tomato stems.

 

“You cook?” he asked flabbergasted, because so far he hadn’t seen Jared eat anything other than dry cereal, bananas, pop tarts, and take out.

 

Jared was just bending over to check the oven and Jensen had to force himself not to stare at his ass. Because that would be rude. And creepy.

 

Startled, Jared shot up and turned around. He smiled when he saw Jensen.

 

“I can only do a few recipes, but nothing fancy. Hey, you want some lasagna? There’s more than enough for two.”

 

The kitchen looked like a battlefield, there were bits of vegetables everywhere, the sink was filled with bowls and dirty pans. There was a tomato spatter along one entire wall and Jensen was pretty sure the yellow stains on his coffee maker were cheese.

 

But Jared was smiling brightly and looking so damn hopeful with the most deadly puppy dog eyes Jensen had ever seen on a human and right at that moment, Jensen’s stomach growled audibly.

 

Jared laughed. “Alright then. Wanna watch some Netflix while we eat?”

  
  
  
  
  
  

Uncomprehending, Jensen stared at the kitchen sink. There was a sock in the sink. His brain was unable to figure out why there was a fucking sock in the sink. It didn’t help that it was eight in the morning and Jensen had neither showered nor had coffee yet.

 

Carefully, he leaned down and sniffed. He recoiled immediately, because that was definitely a worn sock. He picked it up with two fingers by the cuff and dumped it on the floor in front of Jared’s door.

 

That evening when he caught Jared at the door, taking a delivery of Chinese, Jensen told him that socks in the sink were a no go.

 

Jared’s eyes went wide. “Oh, sorry dude, I got undressed in a hurry.”

 

“In the kitchen?” Jensen asked flatly.

 

Jared shrugged. “My feet like to breathe.”

 

Jensen shook his head. “I don’t care. Really. But so far I’ve found your socks on the couch, under the toilet, next to the washing machine and now in the kitchen sink. Just… you can do with your socks whatever you like—” here Jared made a lewd face and Jensen rolled his eyes, “but please do it in your room.”

 

Jared raised his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright. I’ll keep my socks to myself.”

 

Like it was a hardship. Jensen got his phone out to text Chris. He needed to vent.

  
  


  

It turned out that Jared had no idea how to vacuum. Apparently, in Jared’s world the vacuum fairy came to empty the bags. At least that’s what Jensen assumed when Jared was completely nonplussed about why the vacuum wasn't working properly anymore. When Jensen explained it was full and needed to be emptied out, Jared’s eyes went wide.

 

“Right! That’s a thing you have to do.”

 

“ _You_ have to do,” Jensen said icily. “Honestly, how have you survived thus far?”

 

Jared shrugged. “I never did it. My roommates probably took care of that.”

 

Jensen rolled his eyes and turned towards his room. “Probably. Since it got done. Just empty the fucking vacuum,” he called over his shoulder.

  
  
  
  


The sock situation did not get better. Jensen found two — not matching — in the corner of the kitchen, several on different days in the hallway and one next to the television. Jensen dumped all of them in front of Jared’s door. They disappeared and he never commented on it. Jensen contemplated setting the fucking socks on fire.

 

Occasionally, he found other clothes too. Jeans, shirts, sweaters; Jared liked to undress when he came home. He also liked to eat breakfast in nothing but his boxers. It was a problem. Jensen had a problem.

 

“Hate sex,” Dani said, when he complained to her. “That’s your solution.”

 

Chris nodded sagely. His best friends were fucking traitors.

 

The thought might be more than tempting, but screwing your roommate was a monumentally bad decision and it wouldn’t work anyway with Jared being straight and all. He considered hooking up with the guy making eyes at him in the bar, but in the end, he just stumbled home with Chris and crashed on his couch. At least, there were no socks lying around.

 

The next morning, Jared looked vaguely relieved when Jensen came home. It was afternoon, but Jared was lounging around on the couch in a pair of indecently low hanging sweatpants. Jensen did not need to know the extent of Jared’s treasure trail.

 

“Hey, where did you crash last night? I was getting a bit worried you fell into a ditch or something.” Jared said it casually, with a teasing smile.

 

Jensen just raised an eyebrow. “I slept at Chris’. No falling into ditches here.”

 

“Oh,” Jared said, strangely quiet. “Chris, that’s the guy you went to the movies with last week, right?”

 

Jensen nodded, surprised that Jared remembered.

 

“Awesome.” Jared cleared his throat. “That’s great.”

 

Okay, this was getting weird. But since staying meant staring at Jared’s bare chest, Jensen retreated to the bathroom. Hanging around Jared’s nakedness was not good for Jensen’s sanity.

 

He really needed to get laid.

 

Later, when he came out of his room, there were a bunch of delicious looking cupcakes in the kitchen. Closing his eyes and counting to ten, Jensen ignored the batter drops drying on the kitchen table, the icing on one of the chairs and the mixing bowl and the measuring cups filling up the sink. Not like they had a dishwasher or anything.

 

Instead, he took a cupcake and went back to his room, trying not to think about a half-naked Jared baking cupcakes and getting batter everywhere.

  
  
  
  
  
  

On Thursdays, Jensen got to sleep in. He didn’t need to be on campus before noon which was glorious. His alarm clock was set for ten, at the earliest. This Thursday, Jensen was violently startled awake by Queen blasting through the apartment. Now Jensen usually liked Another One Bites The Dust, but not at eight on a Thursday morning. He debated trying to fall back to sleep, but then he thought of Jared’s innocent expression, telling Jensen that he had no idea he could have done something wrong and Jensen got out of bed.

 

In the hallway, he ran straight into Jared, who was wearing one of his impossible pairs of sweats and carrying a box of Fruit Loops.

 

“Hey. Leaving for campus?” Jared asked through a mouthful of cereal.

 

Jensen thought about ways to hide Jared’s body after he was done with him. “No, not yet. I can sleep for two more hours. Or, I could, if someone hadn’t turned the music on really loudly.”

 

“Ah yeah.” Jared pulled a grimace. “Sorry about that, but it helps Osric work.”

 

“What?” Jensen asked.

 

Jared just laughed. “You’re adorable in the morning, anyone ever tell you that?” He reached out and ruffled Jensen’s hair. “Like an indignant hedgehog.”

 

Jensen was too stunned to answer.

 

With a wide grin, Jared walked back into his room. Through the door, Jensen saw the some guy sitting at Jared’s desk, computer and two laptops turned on in front of him.

 

“Turn the fucking music down!” Jensen yelled through the door.

 

The guy, who had to be Osric, showed him the finger but after the door fell closed behind Jared, the music was turned down. Jensen went back to bed. He couldn’t get back to sleep.

 

When he finally dragged himself out of his room to shower, he ran into Osric. Half his face was hidden behind his dark bangs.

 

“Sorry about the music,” he said, actually sounding apologetic, “but what I do is art.”

 

Jensen raised an eyebrow. “And what is it you do?”

 

Before Osric could answer, Jared came out of his room and slung an arm around Osric’s shoulder, grinning at his friend who barely reached his chin.

 

“Eh, just gaming stuff,” Jared said. “But Osric’s leaving now anyway, right?”

 

Osric shot Jared a ‘what the fuck’ look but let Jared push him out of the apartment.

 

“Nice finally meeting you!” he called around Jared’s back and Jensen just managed to wave back half-heartedly.

 

What the fuck was wrong with Jared and his friends?

  


When he came home that day, there was a bunch of cupcakes, their decorations spelling the word _sorry_.

 

“I didn’t realize it was so early,” Jared mumbled apologetically. “Time kinda ran away from us and I thought it was much later.”

 

Jensen rolled his eyes and took a cupcake. They were really good.

 

“Where did you learn to bake like that?” he couldn’t help but ask.

 

“Gen,” Jared said brightly. “Tiny love of my life. She’s actually coming to visit in a couple of weeks to test… erm, she’s visiting. You don’t mind, do you?”

 

“Tiny love of your life?” Jensen repeated because, what?

 

Jared laughed. “Well, she’s like this tall,” he said and held his hand out somewhere on the level of his chest. “We met during freshman orientation and by the end of the week we decided we’d get married if we were still single when we’re forty.”

 

Jensen snorted. “You’re not gonna be single when you’re forty.”

 

Jared’s face lit up. “You think so?”

 

“Well.” Jensen paused, letting his eyes wander over their apartment. “If you ever get your sock issues under control.”

 

“Haha.” Jared deadpanned. “You’re funny.”

 

“And you have a problem.” They grinned at each other. “Netflix?” Jensen asked and took another cupcake.

 

Jared took the whole tray. “Yeah. Let’s watch Ryan Reynolds in red spandex.”

 

Jensen wasn’t going to say no to that.

  
  
  
  
  


“So, what’s his name?” Jensen asked one evening when they were lounging around on the couch and watching Chopped.

 

He held up Jared’s penguin that had become a fixture on their couch.

 

“Darth Vader,” Jared said. “But I mostly call him just Darthy.”

 

Jensen raised one eyebrow. “You named a stuffed penguin Darth Vader?”

 

Embarrassed, Jared scratched his neck. “I was seven, okay? I sneaked into my living room to watch Star Wars because they said I was too young. But it was kinda scary, you know, with all the heavy breathing, and I sat there, clutching my penguin, and in the spirit of defeating fear, I decided to name the penguin after the villain.”

 

Jensen managed to keep his judging expression in place for three more seconds — it was hilarious to watch Jared squirm — then he broke out in helpless laughter. It was just too cute.

 

He ended up taking a picture of the penguin and sent it to Chris with its name as the caption.

 

“Who are you texting?” Jared asked with squinted eyes.

 

Jensen grinned. “Chris. He’s gonna get a kick out of it. Darth Vader is his favorite villain of all time.”

 

  


Jared’s wet and outraged face almost made up for Jensen sitting on the toilet only to find that the toilet paper was out. Jared, who was supposed to buy more days ago, hadn’t.

 

Jared sputtered and wiped off the water Jensen had poured over him. “Whoa, what the hell, dude?”

 

“First, don’t dude me,” Jensen ground out. “Second, you forgot the toilet paper. _Again_. And third, it’s three pm how can you still be sleep and oh my god, your room is even worse than I thought.”

 

Usually Jensen didn’t look inside Jared’s room. Considering there wasn’t a square inch of floor visible beneath under all the clothes, books, papers and electronic stuff lying around, not to mention all the dishes that had to be days old — yeah, it was better that Jensen didn’t see this.

 

“It’s organized chaos,” Jared said. And then, unbelievably, instead of getting up, he just turned around on the bed putting his feet next to the wet spot and his head on the dry end. “Besides, I’m busy.”

 

“Busy,” Jensen repeated flatly. “With what exactly?”

 

Jared made a vague hand motion and closed his eyes. “Stuff. I took a job, so now I’m designing a website for this bakery. It’s nice, but so many menus. Can I sleep now?”

 

Well, at least Jared was working. Jensen focused on that instead of the state of the room.

 

“If we get a vermin infestation,” Jensen couldn’t stop himself from saying, “You’re paying the exterminator.”

 

Jared just made a grumbling sound. Jensen ignored how much he would have liked to put his head on Jared’s chest and feel the vibrations that sound had to produce and made a hasty retreat out of Jared’ room.

  
  
  
  


“Hey, you okay?”

 

Jensen rubbed his temples and put his phone down. “Yeah, just talking to Chris because—”

 

He looked up and the words got stuck in his throat. Jared was leaning in the doorway, shirtless, wearing The Gray Sweatpants. The Gray Sweatpants, capitalized because among all of Jared’s extremely soft, low hanging sweatpants, they were the softest, most threadbare, with an incredibly baggy waistband that hung so low on his hips, Jensen could always catch a glimpse where Jared’s treasure trail started to broaden. (Jared didn’t wear underwear. As far as Jensen could tell he never did under the sweats and that was a thing Jensen should not know about his too hot for words slob roommate.)

 

Completely oblivious to Jensen’s plight, Jared made a sympathetic expression. “I know what you mean. Some days are like that. How about we crash on the couch and I make grilled cheese sandwiches?”

 

Jared’s grilled cheese sandwich was one of the most amazing things Jensen had ever eaten. He nodded. Jared gave him one of his blinding smiles and left. After a few moments, Jensen could hear the familiar clanking of the pan and the creaking of the left kitchen cabinet. He’d only lived with Jared for a few weeks, but the sounds had already become familiar. All of a sudden, it didn’t matter anymore that he’d gotten into a fight with one of the other TAs and that his laptop had finally broken down and he didn’t know how he was going to afford a new one. He closed his eyes and for a moment didn’t fight the warm fuzzy feeling in his chest.

 

  
  
  
  

Jensen was staring glumly into his coffee cup when Jared put down a battered looking laptop in front of him.

 

“It’s not great, but I don’t need it,” he said, as if it was nothing, as if everybody just had laptops lying around to give to their roommate.

 

“You sure?” Jensen asked.

 

Jared smiled, popping a dimple. “You owe me dinner, but yeah. And if you decide what kind of new one you want, let me know. I know a few people, maybe I can get it for you on the cheap.”

 

On impulse, Jensen slung an arm around Jared’s broad shoulders and pulled him in for a short hug. For a second, Jared stood frozen, and Jensen feared he’d crossed a line, but then Jared reacted. Instead of maybe patting Jensen on the back or giving him a one armed hug back, Jared enveloped him in his arms and pulled him in tight.

 

Jared was tall enough to make Jensen feel comforted and safe from all sides, he put just the right amount of pressure in the hug to make Jensen feel it without hurting him and he smelled heavenly. There was no weird breathing on Jensen anywhere because Jared had hooked his chin over Jensen’s shoulder, but he was leaning in diagonally enough to avoid smushing Jensen’s face against his shoulder.

 

It was probably the best hug Jensen had ever gotten in his entire life.

 

He did not want to let go.

 

He didn’t know how long it was, probably not the eternity it felt like, until Jared pulled back.

 

Thrown completely off-kilter, Jensen cleared his throat. “Thanks, Jared. Really. I don’t know how I’d survive the rest of the semester without my laptop.”

 

Jared was looking at him, searching his face for something, before he gave Jensen a crooked half-smile. “My pleasure, man. Take it as compensation for the sock situation.”

 

Jensen snorted. “I don’t know if you can ever compensate me for that.”

 

For a moment, Jared looked worried, then he grinned and pointed at Jensen. “You’re joking, I can tell.”

 

Jensen just rolled his eyes. Yes, he hated the sock situation, but it had almost become a regular fixture of his life and he had the creeping suspicion he’d miss it if Jared left. No matter how annoyed he got over Jared, he’d really come to like the guy. And Jensen really needed to not complete this train of thought.

 

  
  
  
  
  


Jared apparently didn’t drink coffee. He did make a habit of using Jensen’s cups for his energy drinks and gatorade. Jensen tried to be chill about it, he really did, but then Jared broke the rainbow mug Chris had given him the day after Jensen had told him he had a crush on the quarterback, not the head cheerleader back in ninth grade.

 

Jensen stared at the shards on the floor.

 

“Sorry,” Jared said sheepishly. “I was in a hurry, and—”

 

“It’s fine,” Jensen said woodenly. He didn’t consider himself a sentimental person but that cup symbolized a part in his and Chris friendship.

 

Jared’s face fell. “Oh no. That was a special cup, wasn’t it?”

 

Jensen tried to shrug it off. “Chris gave it to me. It was…”

 

“Shit, man, I’m so sorry,” Jared said and his face was actually distraught. “I’ll totally buy you a new one. I mean, it won’t be the same, obviously, but yeah.”

 

“Whatever.” Jensen couldn’t even get mad about this. Usually, Jared’s antics were annoying but harmless and he had no problem chewing Jared out for it. But Jared had broken the cup on accident, without knowing how much it meant to Jensen and he was genuinely sorry now that he knew, nothing of his usually blase attitude concerning housework remaining.

 

He didn’t see Jared for the next couple of days, didn’t even hear a peep from out of his room, but on the third day, the rainbow cup was waiting for Jensen in the kitchen when he stumbled in to get coffee. For a moment Jensen wondered how Jared had managed to find a cup that Chris had bought him ten years ago, but then he saw the chip in the handle. It was the same cup.

 

Carefully, Jensen examined the cup. He could see the cracks and evidence of the glue Jared must have used, but it was his cup. Carefully, he filled it with water from the tap and it held.

 

“Sorry it took me so long.”

 

Jensen almost dropped the cup at Jared’s voice behind him. When he turned around Jared was sheepishly leaning in the doorway.

 

“I practiced on a few other cups first to get it right.” Jared pulled up his shoulders. “Didn’t want to mess it up again.”

 

“Thanks, man,” Jensen said and he felt a smile pulling at his mouth. He just couldn’t help it. Yes, Jared had broken his mug, but to actually practice to glue it back together… “I really appreciate it.”

 

For a second, Jared was staring at him stupidly then he shook his head as if to clear it before he nodded. “Sure. I mean, I broke it and since Chris gave it to you…”

 

Jensen nodded. It was only later that he wondered how Jared had figured out how important the cup was to him.

 

  
  
  
  


Jensen didn’t make a habit of checking if his shower was clean and free of things that didn’t belong there before he got in. So when he stepped into the shower early one morning and spotted a pair of black boxers with a giant yellow batman logo on them, he jumped. He jammed his elbow painfully against the controls and almost fell flat on his ass.

 

Boxers in the shower. Boxers. In the shower. He skipped the sniff test this time. He did take them with him and dumped them in Jared’s cereal bowl.

 

“Hey!” Jared looked up from his breakfast — cereal with orange juice, unfortunately by far not the weirdest combo Jared ate. “What’s that for?”

 

“Dirty boxers,” Jensen grit out, “don’t belong in the shower.”

 

“Well yeah,” Jared said matter of factly, as if Jensen hadn’t found his socks everywhere in their apartment, including the shower. “But they’re not mine.”

 

Jensen froze. “Whose are they?”

 

“Oh hey.” Chad’s cheery voice came from behind him. “You found my underwear. Thanks, pretty boy!”

 

Jensen did not turn around. Chad without underwear was not something he needed to see.

 

“Dude,” Jared said mildly. “Put your dick away.”

 

Chad snorted. “Says the one who sleeps naked.”

 

“Well, we have company now.”

 

Jensen fled the kitchen.

  
  
  
  


Jensen came home to hear the sound of the vacuum from outside their apartment. Well, apparently when he went on a little tirade this morning and told Jared that he better get his lazy ass off the couch and finally do his share of the cleaning or Jensen would dump a bucket with the dirty mop water over his bed, he’d gotten through to Jared.

 

When he came into the living room, his heart almost stopped. Jared was vacuuming in his underwear. He was singing and dancing along to the music, sweat damp hair sticking to his forehead. A trail of sweat was running down between his pecs. Jensen valiantly reminded himself that he could not just go over there and lick Jared, no matter how much he wanted.

 

When Jared saw him, he smiled blindingly. “See, I can be a good boy.”

 

Jensen choked on nothing but air. He needed to go jerk off, right now.

 

“Just don’t forget to vacuum under the couch,” he said because there was nothing else he could say without embarrassing himself.

 

  
  
  
  
  


“So,” Jared started on Thursday morning while they were having breakfast together.

 

Or rather what constituted as breakfast in their house. Jensen had coffee and Jared juggled with Cocoa Puffs. Occasionally one would find its way into Jared’s mouth. Most of them landed on the floor. If Jensen weren’t so distracted by how wide Jared could open his mouth, how far his lips stretched and how his tongue peeked out when he was concentrating, he would probably be pretty pissed about the cereal on the floor. As it was, he tried to sit so that his morning wood wasn’t visible.

 

“Are you seeing Chris this weekend?” Jared asked, reminding Jensen that he needed to focus on words now.

 

“No. Chris and Steve are doing a small tour the next two weeks.”

 

Jared clapped him on the shoulder. “That sucks.”

 

“What?” Jensen stared at Jared in confusion. “No, it’s pretty good, they’re playing in a few decent sized venues.”

 

“Oh yeah, of course.” Jared rubbed his neck. “I mean it sucks that you don’t get to see him for two weeks.”

 

“That’s cute, but I think I’ll survive,” Jensen said with a quirk of his lips.

 

There was a pause, before Jared carefully asked, “Are you guys okay?”

 

“What? Yeah. Just because we’re not attached at the hip like you and Chad are….”

 

Jared sputtered. “Chad and I are not like you and Chris! At all! Dude, Chad! I mean, I love the guy, platonically, he’s my oldest friend, and he’s kinda my person, but dude. No way.”

 

“Okay,” Jensen said and held up his hands. He wasn’t quite sure how Chris and he were different — except that Chris had much better personal hygiene than Chad and did not leave his underwear in unsuspecting people’s shower, but that was about it.

 

However, he didn’t have time to dwell on that, because he needed to go. He jumped out of his chair, mindful to avoid the cereal on the floor and went to brush his teeth.

 

“Don’t forget to clean the floor,” he called out before he left. And this time, Jared didn’t.

 

As a matter of fact, when Jensen got home, the living room was sort of almost tidy. And when he got home Friday night, Jared was waiting for him with steaks and potatoes.

 

“To celebrate you getting your PhD position!” Jared said. “You’re on your way to being a doctor, man!”

 

Jensen was confused. “But I got that months ago.”

 

“Well yeah,” Jared said, rubbing his neck. “But I only found out yesterday, so…. I mean if you don’t want the steak, then I can give it to someone else. Mrs. O'Connell's cat, maybe.”

 

“No!” Jensen laughed. “No, I’d love the steak. Thanks, man.”

 

Jared beamed, dimples coming out in full force. That smile made a terrible longing pull at Jensen’s heart that he did his best to ignore.

 

They had a nice meal, very relaxed and quiet, and afterwards, Jared offered to take Jensen with him when he went out to meet some old college buddies. To celebrate some more. And because Jared smiled with his dimples, eyes shining brightly, Jensen said yes before he knew what he was doing.

 

The hangover the next morning was totally worth it.

  
  
  
  
  


There was a time when Jensen could come home to his apartment to find quiet and solitude. Peace. Not so much since Jared had moved in. Jensen opened the door, and — “Shit. Fuck.”

 

Jensen hopped on one foot and tried not to lose his balance. “Jared!”

 

This was the third time this week he’d stumbled over Jared’s messenger bag lying around in their tiny hallway. This time, he’d stubbed his toe on it. What did Jared carry around in that thing, bricks?

 

“In here,” came the cheerful answer from their living room.

 

Jensen stomped over, prepared to chew Jared out for being such a giant slob. Really, Jensen was already pissed because he hadn’t managed to go to the store, so there was nothing but leftover chinese and peanut butter in his half of the fridge and he’d need all the nutrition he could get if he wanted to get through the stacks of papers he had to grade over the weekend.

 

But when he got to the living room, the words died on his tongue. Jared was lounging around on the couch, wearing nothing but a pair of sweats (the dark green ones. Still fucking sexy but not aneurism inducing like The Gray Sweatpants. They did have a hole at the inseam though. Jensen prayed that, for his sanity, Jared wasn’t going commando).

 

“I found my box of ER DVDs,” Jared said and held up a giant bowl of popcorn. “Wanna watch?”

 

Jensen didn’t find the strength to say no. He blamed the popcorn and the hotness of a young George Clooney.

  
  
  


 

“So, Gen is coming next week.”

 

Jensen looked up from his computer. Jared was standing in the doorway, The Gray Sweatpants low on his hips but at least he was wearing a shirt.

 

“Yeah, you told me.”

 

“Right.” Jared nodded. “She’s vegan.”

 

“So?”

 

Jared pulled a grimace. “Remember how I can only cook a few recipes?”

 

Jensen rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’ll cook. And yes, I can make it vegan.”

 

“You’re the best,” Jared said and actually bounced over to give Jensen a half-hug from behind.

 

“It’s no big deal,” Jensen grumbled. “Chris eats vegan unless he caves to the siren call of cheese, so I’m used to it.”

 

Jensen got a wiff of Jared’s deodorant and a hint of fresh sweat, which really shouldn’t smell as good as it did, but thankfully Jared let go before Jensen went crazy.

 

“I didn’t know Chris was vegan,” Jared said and he sounded kind of wooden.

 

Jensen swiveled around in his chair. “Well, he tries to. Good intentions and all, but he just really, really loves cheese. Why?”

 

Jared took a step back. “No reason. Look, I gotta go, so…” Jared made some weird hand movement and then walked out of Jensen’s room.

  


 

Gen was indeed tiny. She arrived a week before finals because her university started break a week earlier. She barely reached up to Jensen’s shoulder. Her smile was as wide as Jared’s and she seemed genuinely happy to meet Jensen.

 

Jared, on the other hand, seemed anxious, which was just weird, but Gen had already hugged Jensen and engaged him in a conversation about his job — Gen was a grad student in an IT program and they bonded over the hardship of being a TA , especially at the end of the semester.

 

They had dinner together. In honor of Gen’s visit, Jensen made pasta and he had even looked up the vegan cheese substitute. Jared and Gen gave him equally beaming smiles.

 

Jensen just waved them off. “If you know how to cook, doing a vegan meal is not hard.”

 

Gen nodded. “Still. Not everyone is as accommodating and you even got me nooch.”

 

Jared poked into the bowl with the nutritional yeast Gen had put on her pasta. “Okay, I gotta try this.”

 

Jensen and Gen both rolled their eyes in fond exasperation. Jensen had to clear his throat and look away. No one needed to know exactly how fond he’d grown of Jared.

 

“No problem,” Jensen said, trying to distract from the moment. Gen seemed like the intuitive type and he did not need her to get the wrong idea.

 

“That’s not half bad,” Jared finally announced after dumping half the nooch over his third serving of pasta.

 

Gen smiled at Jared but for some reason, when Jared smiled back, it didn’t reach his eyes. Whatever it was, Gen picked up on it, because she brushed her hand against Jared’s in comfort. The moment passed quickly and it felt way too personal for Jensen to intrude on it, so he quickly changed the subject to what Gen would do while she was here.

 

“Well, apart from the obvious, I think I’m just gonna hang out.”

 

“The obvious?” Jensen asked.

 

“Yeah, Jared’s—” Gen started, but Jared interrupted her.

 

“Jared cuddling,” Jared said, voice too loud.

 

Gen looked at him with wide eyes.

 

“What?” Jared asked, face all innocent puppy. “We’re gonna cuddle and binge watch Criminal Minds the whole weekend.”

 

Her fork lifted halfway to her mouth, Gen was still staring at Jared. Again, some kind of unspoken conversation seemed to pass between them, then Gen snorted derisively.

 

“O-kay,” Jensen said. “If that’s what you’re calling it these days.”

 

And it shouldn’t hurt, it _shouldn’t_. Jensen knew Jared was straight. So what if a good friend of his came over for a booty call? It was none of Jensen’s business.

 

“Apparently we are,” Gen muttered and turned back to her plate.

 

Out of nowhere, she said, “It’s too bad Chris couldn’t make it,” a while later.

 

Jensen looked between Jared and Gen in surprise. “He’s still on tour.”

 

What had Jared told Gen? If he hadn’t just seen them talk about hooking up he’d almost think Jared had tried to set them up.

 

“Still?” Gen asked and there was a hard edge to her voice.

 

“Drop it,” Jared said, but Gen kept looking expectantly at Jensen.

 

“They got an offer to play at a festival, so their tour is going a bit longer,” Jensen explained, confused why this seemed to be a problem.

 

“I told you.” Jared gave Gen a hard look.

 

She wasn’t concerned by it. “Too bad,” she said. “Long distance can be really hard on a relationship.”

 

“Gen,” Jared hissed, obviously pissed now.

 

Ah, that’s what this was about.

 

“Well, I guess it works for some people and not for others.” Jensen tried being diplomatic. He did not want to get mixed up in whatever their issues was though he felt really bad for Jared who clearly didn’t want to talk about this at the dinner table.

 

“I guess so,” Gen said and returned to her meal.

 

Jensen tried sending Jared an encouraging smile, but Jared just stared glumly at his plate.

 

The rest of the meal passed in tense silence and Jensen wanted nothing more than to comfort Jared, but whatever was going on between Jared and Gen, it was none of his business.

 

He excused himself after dinner pretty quickly.

  


He didn’t see much of Gen the next few days, mainly because he was struggling to finish his thesis and Gen and Jared spent most of their time in Jared’s room, the music turned on. Well, better that than other sounds. Jensen grit his teeth and tried to tell himself that there was no reason to get jealous.

 

He did try to talk to Jared about it one day when Gen was in the shower. Jared was strangely evasive.

 

“Look, I know I’m really busy right now, but if there’s something you wanna talk about, I’m here, okay?”

 

Jared looked like he was considering it. “Thanks,” he finally said. “I appreciate it. I just… I know it’s stupid but I don’t wanna jinx it, I mean I haven’t even told my parents, so… maybe if things with Gen go well this week, we can talk next week?”

 

Jensen nodded. “Sure. Whatever you need.”

 

Jared smiled at him, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

 

Gen left the morning of Jensen’s thesis deadline and when she hugged him goodbye, she pressed a kiss to his cheek.

 

“It was really good meeting you. Sorry it got weird the first night.”

 

Jensen gave her a tight smile. “No problem. All relationships are difficult and whatever you and Jared have, you clearly care deeply for each other. That’s worth a lot.”

 

Gen’s brow drew together in confusion. “Yeah. But that’s not—”

 

Jared appeared right that moment. “Okay, we gotta go or you’re gonna miss your flight.”

 

For a moment, it looked like Gen wanted to stay and keep talking to Jensen, but then she let Jared push her out the door and with one last wave, she disappeared into Jared’s old beat-up truck.

 

  
  
  
  


Dani was waiting for him with a bottle of champagne when he came out of his professors office. She’d handed in her master’s thesis today as well and by the looks of her flushed cheeks she’d probably already had a drink or two.

 

“Oh thank god,” he said and hugged her.

 

“Woah, was it bad with Professor Devine?”

 

Jensen shook his head. “No, it went well. I mean she gave me the Intro into Western Civilization to grade, but I knew that was coming. But Jared was just visited by his long term fuck buddy almost girlfriend and she was nice and they were having issues and it was just fucked up, you know.”

 

Dani drew him in tight. “I’m sorry, hun. How about we go get drunk?”

 

Jensen nodded and took her arm. He’d never talked to Dani explicitly about what was going on with him and Jared — he didn’t even want to think about it himself — but Dani knew anyway. “How was yours?”

 

“Good,” she said. “Professor Beaver said again how happy he was that I got Professor Rhodes as my advisor for my PhD. He’s really happy for me.”

 

Jensen and Dani weren’t at the same department. They’d become friends because they’d had the same core classes as undergrads in the liberal arts curriculum, but Dani was going to get her PhD in Sociology while Jensen was doing History.

 

“Look at us,” he said. “All grown up, starting work on our doctorates soon.”

 

Dani snorted. “Speak for yourself. I’m gonna get drunk on strawberry margaritas later tonight and then watch the new pixar movie. You wanna come?”

 

It sounded exactly like what Jensen needed. “Yeah.”

  
  


Jensen blamed it on his hangover the next morning that he didn’t realize Jared was eating cereal in The Gray Sweatpants.

 

“God fucking dammit.” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

 

Jared looked at him like a deer in the headlight. “What did I do?”

 

Since Jensen could scarcely tell him “you look too fucking good” he just shook his head. “Headache. Didn’t see you there. Sorry.”

 

So Jensen was not his most articulate when hung over. Whatever.

 

“Ah.” Jared leaned back against the counter, showing of his six pack. Eight pack? Ten pack? Jensen never let himself look long enough to count.

 

“Did you celebrate turning in your thesis last night?”

 

Jensen turned on the coffee maker. “Dani wanted margaritas,” he said as way of an explanation.

 

“I see.” There was a pause while Jensen stared at the coffee maker willing it to work quicker.

 

“No Chris?” Under the casual tone was a tense note in Jared’s voice.

 

“Nah. We’ll probably go out tomorrow.”

 

Jared harrumphed.

 

“What?”

 

“Nothing,” Jared said, too quickly. “Just, shouldn’t he have been there, to celebrate with you?”

 

Finally, the coffee machine was done and Jensen poured himself a generous cup.

 

“It’s not like I got my degree or anything. I just turned in my thesis.” Really, Jensen had no idea why Jared was so interested in his and Chris’ friendship. “I told you, we don’t spend that much time together, but we’re good. The only time we saw each other every day was in high school and we managed just fine when we went to different cities for college.”

 

Silence. Jensen took his first sip, feeling the warmth of the coffee spread through his stomach and turned around to find Jared looking at him confused.

 

“What?”

 

“You’ve known Chris since high school?” was what Jared decided to ask.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“High school.” Jared repeatedly faintly.

 

“Dude, what’s going on?” Jensen was getting concerned now. “You know that, Chris is my oldest friend.”

 

Jared opened his mouth, closed it again. “I thought Steve was your old high school buddy.”

 

What? Had Jared never listened when Jensen talked about Chris? “No,” Jensen said slowly, trying to stomach this. “Chris is my old high school friend. Steve is the guy he met in college and started a band with. Nice, dude. I thought you listen when we talk.”

 

“I do,” Jared protested. “I just thought—”

 

“What?” Jensen asked when Jared broke off.

 

This was… Jensen didn’t know what to think. He’d thought they were getting along, becoming even friends, maybe, and Jared managed to mix up Chris and Steve? And Jensen didn’t even know how that was possible. Chris was the one Jensen talked about all the time, Chris was the one Jensen shared his life with. Did Jared really not care? Despite the socks and the irregular cleaning, Jensen had thought they’d formed some kind of bond, at least. This was just fucking great.

 

He took a deep breath and tried not to let the hurt show on his face. “What did you think? Or maybe you didn’t think at all, like all the times you deposited your fucking socks all over the apartment?”

 

“I thought you and Chris were dating!” Jared exploded and that stunned Jensen into silence.

 

“You what?”

 

Jared waved his arms agitatedly. “Well, with the going to the movies and going out together and the way you talked about him, and the rainbow cup and you text, like all the time, so I thought you were dating him!”

 

“Chris is so straight, he’s a zero on the Kinsey scale,” Jensen said. “Regardless of which, he’s my best friend. We grew up together, he’s basically my brother. And I have no idea how you did not realize that.”

 

“Oh.” Jared seemed smaller all of a sudden.

 

“Yeah, oh.” Suddenly, the whole tirade about Chad and Jared being not like Jensen and Chris made a lot more sense.

 

“You thought, when I compared Chris and me to Chad and you…”

 

Jared nodded, still looking a bit faint. “You see why I was so horrified.”

 

“Yeah.” Jensen shuddered. “Dating Chris would be so much better than dating Chad. Better hygiene.”

 

“Chad doesn’t smell or anything,” Jared defended his friend. “He’s just very… liberal with his clothing.”

 

“Well, there has to be a reason you two get along so well.”

 

Jared stuck his tongue out at him.

 

Jensen was still stuck on the mental image of him and Chris together, which just no, when Jared pulled him out of his thoughts.

 

“So you’re single?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“You’re single,” Jared repeated slowly. “And I’m single.”

 

“Just because you and Gen don’t have a conventional relationship,” Jensen started but Jared cut him off.

 

“Woah woah, what? Gen and I don’t have a relationship! Why would you think that?”

 

“Well, not a relationship,” Jensen back pedalled quickly because Jared looked seriously agitated over this. “But whatever it is you two have….”

 

“We don’t have anything,” Jared exclaimed. “Well, no, we’re really good friends, but there’s no love or sex or whatever.”

 

Now it was Jensen’s turn to say “Oh,” and feel kinda stupid. “Then what was the obvious thing she was here for? If it wasn’t… you know?”

 

Jared’s eyes went wide as saucers. “You thought we were having sex?”

 

“Well, you always had the music turned on real loud.” Really, what was Jensen supposed to think?

 

Jared just dissolved into laughter. He was laughing so hard, he almost doubled over. “Oh my god, we’re so stupid.”

 

Jensen couldn’t help it. He joined in.

 

They laughed until they were sitting on the floor and Jensen’s abdominal muscles hurt. All the stress of the thesis, his broken computer, the money situation, it was all falling away from him with every bout of laughter that shook him.

 

“That,” he said when they were sitting on the kitchen floor and catching their breaths, “was a long time coming.”

 

Jared half got up and pulled the box of Cocoa Puffs out of the cupboard offering it to Jensen.

 

“Cereal?”

 

And Jensen took a handful.

  
  
  
  


 

“So he doesn’t have a thing with Gen.”

 

“Well, that’s awesome!” Chris said.

 

Jensen kept a straight face and waited until Chris took another sip of his beer. “He thought you and I were dating though.”

 

Chris spluttered into his glass. Jensen helpfully hit him on the back.

 

“Why would he think that?” Chris asked, wiping foam from his mouth. “You’re like my brother, man!”

 

“I know!” Jensen shook his head. “No idea, he said something about because we went to the movies together and texted a lot, but seriously. I mean, I definitely never said you were my boyfriend and he never asked me either.”

 

“Weird.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“So now what?” Chris asked.

 

Jensen frowned. “What do you mean?”

 

“I mean, what are you going to do about your epic crush?”

 

Jensen let out a groan and dropped his head into his hands. He didn’t even bother denying it. “Nothing,” he said eventually. “He’s still straight.”

 

“You sure? Chris asked. “Because no offense, but you never had the best gaydar.”

 

“He dated Dani’s college roommate.”

 

“So?” Chris asked. “He could play for both teams.”

 

Jensen shrugged. “I don’t… I mean he’s never said anything.” But when he thought back  over things, considering it... “He did like Ryan Reynolds in Spandex. And he’s a die hard George Clooney fan.”

 

“See? It’s possible.”

 

Jensen shook his head. “Even if he is, he’s never shown any interest in me like that.”

 

“He thought you were dating me,” Chris reminded him.

 

True. For a moment, Jensen let himself think about it. And then, he thought about the socks in the sink and the evening on the couch and Jared cooking for him and just hanging out and talking.

 

“I’m not starting something with my roommate. If it doesn’t work out it’s going to be a disaster. And I really like him.”

 

Chris clapped him on the back. “Sorry man. It’s gonna be okay. And hey, that guy over there has been staring the whole night.”

 

Jensen emptied his beer. “He’s not tall enough.”

 

“You didn’t even look!”

 

Jensen looked up. “He’s not tall enough.”

 

“Because he’s not Jared-tall?”

 

Morosely, Jensen stared into his glass. He knew it wasn’t smart to even think about the possibility, but it still hurt.

 

“I see,” Chris said. “It’s time to wallow?”

 

Jensen nodded.

 

“Alright.” Chris got up, putting a hand on Jensen’s neck reassuringly before he made his way to the bar, presumably to order more beer and shots. Chris was a good friend.

  
  


 

“I mean, have you seen the beard?” Jared shook his head. “Our landlord, he’s a true dilf, man. He does have kids, right?”

 

They were sitting on the couch. Jensen was trying to wake up, clutching his coffee cup tightly. It was way too early to be awake on a Sunday, but he did have a stack of papers to finish grading. Next to him, Jared was nursing a beer, left over from the gaming night he’d had with Chad and Osric. Both of which, Jensen had been informed, were asleep sprawled across Jared’s bed, so Jared had moved to the couch to finish his beer. Apparently, he’d gotten the munchies, walked to the diner and gotten himself a muffin to accompany his beer. Jensen would roll his eyes at that, but Jared had brought him coffee, so Jensen decided not to comment on Jared’s disgusting eating habits. Or his sugar intake. Or his partying habits. Or that Chad better not leave his dirty boxers in the shower again.

 

On the way back from the coffee shop, Jared had run into Jeff, their landlord, getting the Sunday paper in his pj’s.

 

“Jeff has two kids, they live with his ex,” Jensen said on autopilot. Jared thought Jeff was hot. Which, yes, Jeff was smoking hot, but Jared thought that?

 

Jensen swallowed, cleared his throat. “So, just to be clear, you’d bang Jeff.”

 

Jared looked at him like Jensen was the crazy one. “Wouldn’t you?”

 

Okay. Well, it seemed that Jensen’s assumption of Jared’s straightness might have been wrong. But like he’d told Chris just two nights ago, that didn’t change things. Not in the least. Because the problem, obviously, wasn’t Jared’s assumed straightness.

 

No, the problem was that Jared was a slob. A lazy, disorganized, messy, exuberant slob. So, yeah, he was funny and kind, and Jensen kinda got lost staring into his eyes sometimes, and they’d become sort of friends, and they got along, but Jared was still a slob, and that would become a problem sooner or later and  — Jensen was not —- dammit.

 

Too late, Jensen realized that his face was scrunched up in a grimace and Jared was still staring at him.

 

“O-kay, no fantasizing about Jeff for you then,” Jared said, raising his hands. “Just don’t kinkshame me for liking an older guy. It’s not like I want to dress up in a cheerleader outfit and call him daddy.”

 

“Who’s kinkshaming now?” Jensen asked reflexively because his brain was hung up on Jared in a skirt. Or anything short enough to show off his long legs and tight ass. Like the really tight boxer briefs he’d worn last week while he was doing his version of cleaning. Which was really just moving a mop around while he was dancing and singing along to Abba.

 

Jensen was going to die.

 

Jared laughed.

  
  
  


 

It was the week after the semester ended. Finals had been written and graded. School was over. So Jensen did absolutely nothing. He lazed around in bed, went to the lake with Dani, finally managed to get back into his running routine that he’d let slide the last few weeks and that was it.

 

He’d thought he would have more time with Jared, but Jared stayed in his room more than usual.

 

“Dani and I are going to the lake, you wanna come?”

 

They bumped into each in front of the bathroom and Jensen just couldn’t take it anymore. Jared looked tired and a bit pale.

 

“Thanks, but I have things to do.”

 

“Things?” Jensen asked.

 

Jared rubbed his neck. “Yeah. Look, I’m sorry, I have to go over to Chad’s later because we’re leaving for the weekend but next week, okay?”

 

Jensen swallowed his disappointment and nodded. “Sure. Have fun.”

 

Jared gave him a small smile. “Thanks.”

 

Then he hugged Jensen.

 

“Okay.” Jensen tried not to get inappropriately aroused by Jared’s sudden proximity. “Everything okay?”

 

Jared drew back with a wide smile. “I hope so. I think so. Look, if this works, we’ll celebrate, okay?”

 

“If what works?”

 

Jared just smiled. “I don’t wanna jinx it. But I’ll tell you next week, okay?”

 

“Sure.” Jensen had no idea what this was all about but the knowledge that Jared wanted to tell him made something warm spread through his stomach.

  
  
  
  


Jared came back from his trip with Chad looking like he skipped two nights of sleep but endlessly happy.

 

“You wanna go to dinner on Friday?” he asked over coffee and cereal . “There’s this new Italian place that opened a few blocks down.”

 

It was Tuesday. Jensen was way too curious to wait that long.

 

“We can go today,” he offered. “I have time.”

 

Jared did a double take. “Yeah?” he asked.

 

Jensen nodded. “Sure. And by the look of your face, you have something to celebrate.”

 

Jared’s smile was impossibly bright. “I kinda do. Okay, it’s a date then. I have to call my parents, but you and me and a giant plate of spaghetti with meatballs tonight.”

 

Jensen whistled all the way back to his room. With a groan, he let himself fall down on his bed. He could not have it this bad for Jared.

   
  
  


 

When Jared finally revealed, between the appetizers and a really nice bottle of wine, what he’d been up to, Jensen almost choked on a breadstick.

 

“You developed a computer game?”

 

“Yep.”

 

Jensen took a big swing from his glass. “You and Chad and Osric developed a first person shooter zombie apocalypse military game and you sold it to one of the world’s largest game console producers.”

 

Jared nodded, pretending to be all nonchalant but Jensen could see the excitement shining in his eyes.

 

“But why didn’t you say something?” Jensen asked, aghast. “I thought you were the world's biggest slob!”

 

“Aw, and you liked me anyway!” Jared grinned impishly before his expression turned more serious. “I didn’t want to jinx it. Look, Chad and I have been designing games for years and we’ve sold a few small ones, but nothing ever really came of it.” Jared smiled ruefully. “Then we met this guy at a gaming convention and gave him our pitch. He liked it, but told us we needed to bring in someone else to deal with sound, which is how we got Osric.”

 

Incredulously, Jensen raised an eyebrow. “Just like that?”

 

Jared looked torn before his expression turned to helpless embarrassment. “No, it wasn’t that easy. We were nobodies. But Chad stole the key to the convention bathrooms, locked us in with the guy and wouldn’t let him go until he looked at the game.”

 

Jensen rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Please tell me that was Chad’s idea.”

 

“It was,” Jared said, “but I played along. And yeah, we were lucky he was so nice to listen to us and hey, it all worked out.”

 

Jensen could only shake his head. This was unbelievable.

 

“Anyway,” Jared waved his and Chad’s audacity off. “The point is, we got a shot, and the guy told us what we needed to do to make it better, so we found Osric and then Gen helped us with character design appealing to female gamers as well — which is why she was here, to give it a final once over — and this weekend, we flew over there and he bought it.” Jared laughed incredulously. “So now I can pay off all my student loans. It’s insane.”

 

It really was. Jensen had not seen this coming. At all. Something that felt suspiciously like pride filled his chest.

 

“Say something!” Jared finally prompted.

 

“Does that mean you’re paying for dinner?”

 

Jared glared. Jensen raised his eyebrows expectantly. Jared huffed and poured more wine.

 

“You’re unbelievable.”

 

“So are you.”

 

Jared grinned. “I know.”

 

Jensen rolled his eyes but he had to laugh. “Okay. Then tell me all about this wondrous game you and Chad cooked up.”

 

And Jared did.

 

Usually, Jensen wasn’t much for video games, if he played, he prefered sports games to first person shooter’s. But when Jared started talking about the apocalyptic scenario he and Chad had come up with, the team of former marines who had to recruit scientists, save civilians and kill gruesome zombies all the while, it sounded exciting just listening to him.

 

As their main dishes arrived, Jared turned the table and asked Jensen all about his upcoming doctoral thesis. Usually Jensen was vague — not many people were actually interested in the socio-economic impact of the Hundred Year’s War — but Jared listened attentively and even asked several intelligent questions.

 

Jensen was pretty surprised by Jared’s knowledge of European dynasties in the Middle Ages.

 

“Well, there’s this one game where you play through Europe’s medieval History, basically,” he explained sheepishly.

 

When it came to dessert, Jared proposed ordering the tiramisu and the crème brulée and then split them and share. Jensen was not going to argue with that.

 

Dessert was delicious. They ate and laughed and suddenly, with a mouth full of tiramisu Jensen realized that this felt an awful lot like a date. He’d thought they’d just go out to dinner to talk, but the fancy restaurant, the dessert splitting, Jared actually putting on a nice button down…

 

“Hey, you okay?” Jared asked, startling Jensen out of his stupor.

 

Jensen bought time by swallowing and wiping his mouth with the cloth napkin (a cloth napkin! This was a total date restaurant).

 

“Yeah, I’m good,” Jensen finally settled on. Maybe he was just imagining it. He probably was just imagining it.

 

Then Jared reached across the table and took his hand. “Good.”

 

“Jared,” Jensen asked slowly, working through this new development. “This… I mean, when you asked me to dinner, did you mean this as a date?”

 

Could this be? Jensen didn’t know whether to be elated or terrified.

 

“Well.” Jared rubbed his neck, blushing adorably. “I wanted to ask you out from the moment I saw you but I thought maybe I should get to know you first, see how this whole living together thing works.” Jared shrugged with a self-deprecating smile. “And then I thought you were dating Chris.”

 

“So this is a date?” Jensen repeated the question, just to make sure. Even though he had thought about, it still took him off-guard.

 

Jared looked at him in confusion. “Yeah. I mean, don’t you want it to be?”

 

Jensen sputtered. He did and he didn’t. Thinking about dating Jared, about getting to touch him, about kissing him — Jensen needed to stop himself. Because there were also the socks in the sink, and the cereal addiction, and...

 

“Jared we can’t date, we live together,” was what finally came out of his mouth. “I mean, I like you, but we’d be a disaster together.”

 

“Because of my sock issues?” Jared asked with a quirk of his lips.

 

“That’s not funny,” Jensen hissed.

 

WIth a surprised expression, Jared leaned back. “Woah, Jensen. I thought you liked me.”

 

“I do but—”

 

“And I know you’re attracted to me, I’ve seen you looking.”

 

Jensen gaped.

 

Jared managed to smirk without looking mean. “I admit, I kinda pushed it with the no shirts thing. I just thought that if you and Chris didn’t work out….”

 

“You’re unbelievable,” Jensen bit out. “Which is why this will never work.”

 

“You don’t know that,” Jared protested. “Look, I know the living together is not ideal and yeah, we have different ideas about cleaning and stuff but we’ve made it work so far, haven’t we?”

 

Disbelieving, Jensen shook his head. This was just like Jared, not taking any conflict seriously. “Have you forgotten how often we fight?”

 

“Well no. But imagine instead of just regular making up we’d have makeup sex!”

 

The image of the two of them kissing came out of nowhere, and Jensen couldn’t stop the train of thought in his mind, how they'd push against each other and tear their clothes off. They wouldn’t even make it to a bed, just fuck wherever Jared had dropped his stupid socks this time.

 

“The TV would never survive,” Jensen said, stupidly.

 

“What?” Jared blinked nonplussed.

 

Jensen waved him off. “Nothing. Just no. Jared, we work because we’re roommates. Friends,” he amended at Jared’s hurt look, “but if we start a relationship the fights are going to get worse, and I just…”

 

Jared leaned forward over the table and squinted his eyes. “Is this you being scared?”

 

“What? No, I’m not scared.”

 

Jensen wasn’t scared, he was _sensible_.

 

Jared crossed his arms in front of his chest and gave Jensen a disbelieving look.

 

“See!” Jensen pointed at Jared. “We’re even fighting about whether we should date or not!”

 

“Because you’re a fucking scaredy cat,” Jared said mildly. “A cute one, obviously, but still.”

 

Jensen rolled his eyes. Then he deflated. “Look, Jared, this is a stupid idea.”

 

Jared narrowed his eyes, then he nodded. “Fine. I’m not going to beg you for a date.” He pulled out his wallet and put a few bills in the table.

 

Strangely enough, he didn’t seem angry. Or sad or disappointed. He was still relaxed, calm.

 

“Jared,” Jensen started, not sure what to say, but Jared was already getting up.

 

“C’mon, let’s get home.”

 

In silence, Jensen followed him outside. It was drizzling, the warm summer rain falling softly.

 

“Look, Jared,” Jensen started, but he didn’t know how to continue.

 

Jared didn’t press and they continued in silence. It gave Jensen time to sort through this mess, time to think. The longer they walked, the more his decision seemed really, really stupid. Sure, they fought, but not about the important things.

 

Jared was always there for him, he could talk to him about anything, watch a movie in silence. Jared cooked and baked to make him feel better, and yeah he was a slob, but he’d worked so hard to achieve his goal and, fuck, what was Jensen doing? Sure, Jared had a sock problem, and a cereal problem and yeah, they could butt heads and fight, but apart from that, he was perfect. Nice, funny, caring, and so fucking hot.

 

Jensen chanced a look, and Jared with his hair damp, shirt plastered to his chest — Jensen was _so_ screwed. What was he doing?

 

The sudden and deafening clap of thunder made him flinch and he realized that the rain had gone from drizzle to downpour, and lightning flashed across the sky. It had gotten cold too and Jensen started to get chilly.

 

“Okay, time to move faster,” Jared said and Jensen agreed.

 

It wasn’t far to their place, so they jogged the last two blocks.

 

When they reached their apartment, they were soaked. They toed out of their shoes and Jared proceeded to rip his shirt off too.

 

Jensen stared. Of course, Jared caught him. Unlike all the other times before, Jensen couldn’t look away.

 

Slowly, Jared licked his lips. “I knew you were looking,” he said and his voice was hoarse.

 

“Shut up.” Jensen needed to focus. To concentrate. There were things he needed to think about, dammit, he couldn’t just—

 

A grin slowly spread over Jared’s face. “I knew it, and you’re still—”

 

“Jared, shut up!!”

 

“Look, I know we fight but there’s a lot of attraction here,” Jared said and took a step forward. “You can’t deny that and there’s so much more, we get along, we’re comfortable and I want to be around you all the time, I want to bake cupcakes everyday, just to make you smile.”

 

“I’m debating on whether I should kiss you or not so if you want me to you shouldn’t annoy me,” Jensen bit out.

 

That shut Jared up immediately. He kept looking at Jensen though, his eyes searching Jensen’s face and then, slowly, hesitantly, he raised a hand until it touched Jensen’s cheek. It was hot on Jensen’s cool skin, disrupting but comforting, just like Jared’s entrance into Jensen’s life.

 

Jensen charged.

 

He pushed into Jared’s space, got his hands on his shoulder and into his wet hair curling at the nape of his neck and smashed their mouths together.

 

It was uncoordinated, but after the initial shock, Jared got with the program quickly enough to turn the kiss into something slick and intense and incredibly intimate.

 

Jared’s body heat acted as a counterpoint to Jensen’s rain chilled skin, comfort and turn on all in one.

 

“So you do wanna kiss me,” Jared mumbled against his mouth.

 

“Even now you gotta be obnoxious.” Jensen drew back when Jared’s hands pulled on his shirt to help him get it off.

 

“You love it,” Jared said but it got half lost against Jensen’s neck, when Jared started kissing up and down Jensen’s neck.

 

With a grumble, Jensen pulled on Jared’s hair to get his mouth back up to kiss him. “Only if I get cupcakes later.”

 

Laughing, they stumbled into the apartment, their hips grinding together. Jared was evidently just as turned on as Jensen was, and the friction on Jensen’s dick was perfect yet not enough at the same time.

 

“Oh god, I’ve been wanting to do that ever since the first day,” Jared groaned and sucked on Jensen’s bottom lip. “I fucking thought of you every time I jerked off and I felt so fucking bad fantasizing about my roommate, and then when you dated…”

 

“No talking about Chris now, please.” There were other things Jensen wanted to focus on.

 

The feeling of Jared’s warm smooth skin under his fingers, his hard muscles tightening with every move, the scent of him. It wasn’t enough. Jensen needed more.

 

Considering the fervor with which Jared wrestled off both their pants, he seemed to be on board. They even managed to get the wet denim off without falling to the floor.

 

“Still think this is stupid?” Jared asked when he pushed Jensen’s boxers off, one of his big hands cupping Jensen’s ass.

 

“Probably. Maybe. What are we talking about?” Jensen’s couldn’t be blamed for losing track of their conversation, not when Jared’s boxers were finally off and their dicks were rubbing against each other.

 

Jared just laughed and pulled Jensen in tighter. “Bed,” he said.

 

But Jensen was so keyed up that when he bumped against the couch, he let himself fall backwards and pulled Jared along with him.

 

“Too far.”

 

They crashed onto the couch, miraculously avoiding any injuries.

 

“Okay,” Jared got out breathlessly. “Okay, let’s do it here.”

 

He was kneeling between Jensen’s legs, shoulder and arm muscles bulging while he held himself up. He was fucking beautiful.

 

Jensen couldn’t stop his hand from wandering, couldn’t resist putting his mouth on Jared’s collar bone, right where his pulse was throbbing.

 

Jared sucked in a deep breath and his hands on Jensen’s hip clenched. “Okay, yeah. How do you wanna do this. I’m up for either.”

 

All the possibilities. Jensen couldn’t think, couldn’t decide whether he wanted Jared to fuck him through the mattress or open him open slow and torturous, make him pay for each and every single sock.

 

The problem was solved when Jensen realized they were on the couch and unless they wanted to get up again, they couldn't get their hands on any supplies.

 

“Later,” Jensen managed to get out. “Later we can do everything, seriously, you’re gonna pay for every single sock outside of your room…”

 

Jared let out a choked off laugh and pushed closer against Jensen, moving his hips quick and sharp. “I could supplement my cupcake apologies,” Jared said lowly, getting his mouth on Jensen’s neck again and sucking purposefully.

 

“Yeah, definitely.”

 

“Yeah?” Jared asked and pushed his hips forward firmly.

 

Jensen arched his back, pushing back. “Yes, yes, okay, we’ll do it all, make up for all the time we wasted because you were too stupid…”

 

“Me?” Jared asked indignantly.

 

“Fine, both of us,” Jensen amended, licked his hand and reached down to grip Jared’s dick which really promised a lot of fun in Jensen’s immediate future. “But now, we should—-”

 

“Yes, yes,” Jared fervently agreed and then his hand joined Jensen’s and with little finesse, driven by nothing but need and pent up frustration, they jerked each other off.

 

It was too rough and choppy to be really good, but it was perfect nonetheless. They kept kissing, but they were too uncoordinated to do much more than press their mouths together urgently.

 

It didn’t take long until it became too much, until Jensen couldn’t do much more than chase his orgasm and watch Jared’s eyes flutter closed, watch Jared drop his head on Jensen’s shoulder.

 

“Yeah, c’mon,” Jensen spurred him on, wanting to watch Jared fall apart.

 

Jared shuddered. He sped up his hand, twisted his wrist and that together with the long drawn out moan Jared let out when he came all over Jensen, was enough to send Jensen over the edge himself.

 

His orgasm completely wrecked him, sinking boneless from pleasure back into the couch, Jared a heavy but pleasant weight on top of him.

 

It took a while for them to catch their breath and Jensen let himself bask in the feeling for a while before he turned his head to press a kiss to Jared’s temple. Jared grumbled something intelligible.

 

“Hey, are you asleep?” Jensen asked, voice still rough.

 

“Yeah,” Jared mumbled and pressed a kiss to Jensen’s shoulder where his head was resting.

 

“Slob,” Jensen said fondly.

 

“And you love it.”

 

Jensen grinned. “Only for the compensation.”

 

Jared laughed. “Gimme a few minutes but then you're on.”

 

Jensen would need more than a few minutes. But right now, he was sure that wherever Jared socks would turn up in the future, Jared would find a way to make it up to him.

  
  


 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on tumblr [here](http://ashtray-thief.tumblr.com/)
> 
> And don't forget to head to beelikej's art post [here,](http://beelikej.livejournal.com/497496.html) and play dress up with Jared!


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